Building of tennis courts and the like



Aug, 31 1926. 1,597,987

- H. s. LLOYD BUILDING 0F TENNIS COURTS AND THE LIKE 7 Filed July 1., 1924 Patented Aug. 31, 1926.

UtillTldD tanner orricn.

HENRY GARDINEB LLOYD, OF SURBITON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO GEANULOIID LI1VI- ITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, A BRITISH COMPANY.

BUILDING OF TENNIS COURTS AND THE LIKE.

Application filed July 1, 1924, Serial No. 723,545, and. in Great Britain July 16, 1923.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to the building of tennis courts and the like and has for one of its objects to enable such courts to be built in a sys a tematic manner conducive to satisfactory results in so far as drainage, wearing, and general utility of the courts or the like are concerned.

One feature of the present invention con sists in a method of building tennis courts and the like which comprises (a setting up on the surface to be covered partitions at the marking lines of the court, or if desired at other situations also, so as to divide the said surface into a plurality of separated sections,

(b) filling the said sections with a plastic or semi-solid building material,

removing the said partitions before or after the said fillings have set or dried, and

(d) filling up the spaces left at the situations of the marking lines of the court by the removal of the partitions with building material whereof at least the upper layer is of a colour distinctive from that of the up per surface of the said sections.

The plastic or semi-solid building material employed may take a variety of forms such as concrete, asphalt and the like.

Conveniently, in carrying out the aforesaid step (ZJ), a plurality of charges of the building material are placed into each section and levelled 0E in turn flush with the upper edges of the surrounding partitions and subsequently compressed so as to form a space below the upper edges of the partitions for the reception of the succeeding charge or charges.

In some circumstances certain of the partitions may be laid in position, at the situation of marking lines of the court, after the lower porton of the charge of building ma terial has been laid in position at such situaions. This will provide for the formation of the marking lines at situations where it is unnecessary to provide also for contraction of the building material as it sets or dries.

If desired, in order to promote evenness, the uppermost layer of building material 50 may be levelled off at a higher level than the upper edges of the surrounding partition (for example by a screening board having a recessed operating face) and subsequently compressed by a roller (for examplc a metal tube) -;suificieptly long to reach completely across from the partition at the one sideto the partition at the opposite side.

According to another feature of themvention there is provided a collapsible partition whereof the upstanding walls can be closed in towards each other to facilitate the carrying out of the aforesaid step It will be understood that by employing a collapsible partition it will be comparatively easy towremove it without damaging the charges inserted in the sections enclosed by the partition. Conveniently a partition is employed which is composed of strips of angle formation detachably secured together to form a channel whereof at the base one side of one strip rests upon a side of the other strip.

Where a long length of partition is re quired two or more pairs of the aforesaid strips may be secured together end for end and in such event it is advantageous to arrange that the joint between two strips at the one side of the partition is displaced out of coincidence with the corresponding jointbet-we'en the strips at the other side of the partition. Thus, the jointcan be made without fish plates or the like being required.

For a more complete understanding ofthe invention there will now be described, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, certain methods of, and apparatus for, building tennis courts according to theinvent-ion. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise details set forth.

In these drawings Figure 1 is a partial plan view of a tennis court with its surround.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 on a scale larger than that of this latter figure and showing the tennis court in the course of preparation.

Figure 3 is a detail plan view of a portion of a collapsible channel employed in building the tennis court.

Figure t is a perspective view showing another appliance that may be used in building the court.

Figure 5 is a similar view of a modified form of appliance, and I Figure 6 is a section, corresponding some what to Figure 2, but'showing a modified arrangement of the partitions.

Like reference .numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

'11 and the surround at 12.

Referring to Figure 1, a 'partof the court is shown at 10, the marking lines at In Figures 2 and 3 collapsible partitions are shown which, after a suitable foundation has been laid, say of clinker 13, are intended to be set up at the situation of the marking lines 11 of the court and also, if desired, at other situations such as" 14, 15, 16 and 17' where nomarking lines are required for the court. In this way the surface to be covered will be divided into aplurality of separated sections each of which has subsequently to=be fi'lled'with a charge.

The construction of collapsible partition illustrated comprises two angle strips 18 and 19 whereof .the upstanding sides constitute thewalls of the partition while the base of the strip 19 rests'upon the base of the strip 118 and is secured thereto by a suitable number of-bolts 20. Each bolt 20, in the construction illustrated, passes-through a hole 21in the strip 19 whichzis elongated laterally of the length ofthe'strip in order to permit the :angle strips to be "moved towards each other and the partition thus collapsed. If desired,

the holes 21 may be extended through tothe' edge of-the-strip to form an open-ended -slot,'as shown in chain lines in Figure 3. .30'

length that-maybe requiredand templates- '-The':partitions maybe made of any suitable or fitting blocks maybe provided for setting the anglestrips-18 and 19 the desired dis tance apart. lVhere it is necessary tojoin :together'lengths of strip in order to make 'up any-desired length of partition, this is preferably, done in the manner illustrated in Figure It will be seen that there are shownitherein a pair of strips 18 and 19 .which are attached endwise toanother corresponding pair 180 and 190. The strip 18 reaches .under the end of the strip 190 and is .secured thereto by bolts22" whereby theuse .ofgfish plates is avoided. Theholes through which the bolts 22'have to pass are preferably enlarged in order to permit longitudinal expansion and contraction ofthe strips to take place in additionato the aforesaidcoh ing the .twostrips in each :partition andnioving the strips tow'eutds. each other. The; partitions can then: be easily removed;- and leave exposed the various sect-ions which,canbe left to dry without'being liable to crack. There will be a space all round each section which will facilitate the setting or drying of the material .w-ithoutcracking. .Subs'euently the spaces left'by the removal of upper surface of the adjacent sections. In

this way permanent marking lines-will be provided for the court. The spaces left at such situations as 14,15, 16 and 17 where no markinglines are required, may be filled in with material having thesame colour, as the adjacent sections.

It is convenient, particularly when dealing with concrete, to fill each section by a plurality of charges. For-instance the first charge of sayfairly large stones and cement is shovelled or otherwise placed in position and the top levelled olf flush with the upper edges of the partitions. The charge is then pressed by a suitabletool or rollerso as to pack its constituent parts fairly'close together so that after pressing they occupy say the space indicated at-23 iii-Figure 2. In this way-there will be left between the upper surface ofthe charge 23-and'the upper surface of the partitions, a space into which another charge say-of smaller stones or gravel and cementis placed. This may be similarly pressed and occupy,-after;prese ing or rolling, the space indicated at 24 in Figure 2. Between its upper surface and the upper surface of the partitions aspace will then be left intowhich'a final or top surface made conveniently of the rounded grains referred to in the earlier patent specificaticn-No. 1,484h51et mixed, of course, with cement, may be placed as shown at 25 (Figure 2). The final surface 25 may also be pressed or rolled into position if desired, in which case its upper surface will be' somewhat below the level (26) of the up- .per edges of the; partitions, or alternatively it may be screened off slightly above the top of the partitions and rolled down.

By proceeding in the way just described, v andsuitably graduating the various charges so far as'the nature of their constituent parts is concerned, a total filling for each'section can be made which will be sufficiently porous to give good drainage, will be sufliciently stable or firm and will have a satisfactory wearing surface.

There is no need to allow each individual charge to set or dry before placing in the succeeding charge orcharges, and it will be apprec ated that the number of charges em ployedmay be varied asde'sired. As an-example of a suitable proportioning of the parts where 'three charges only are: employed, if the total operative depth of the llU partitions is three inches, the nature of the first layer and the pressure applied to it might be such as to leave a free space of three quarters of an inch after the compression has occurred. The second layer when compressed might leave a free space of a quarter of an inch and the third layer when compressed might be one sixteenth of an inch below the upper edges of the partitions.

The charges for filling the spaces left when the partitions are removed may be of a similar nature to those above described, except in regard to the colouring of the upper layer.

For compressing the charges in the sections, a tool may be employed of a weight of say twenty to thirty pounds which may either be a roller, or may comprise a rectangular base 27 of metal (see Figure l) with an upright 28 and cross-handle 29 at the top. The base of the tool is comparatively thin say half an inch and the sides of the rectangle may conveniently be twelve and eight inches. In use the intention is that the operator should rest the base upon a part of the section and should place the balls of his feet upon the upper surface of the base, leaving his heels off the tool. If now he bends somewhat forward so as to throw his weight more upon the balls of his feet a suficient pressure will be found to be exerted upon the charge to compress it satisfactorily. The tool should then be shifted on to another part of the charge and the operation repeated. It is not the intention that the operaor should use the tool to strike blows upon the charge, but the lower charges may be rammed if desired, the lower the layer, the heavier being the permissible blow.

An alternative form of tool is shown in F i gure 5 which is heavier than that shown in Figure 4 and which in operation will not entail the operator transferring so much of his weight to it as will the tool shown in Figure 4:. If desired several different weights and forms of pressing tools may be used one after the other in sequence.

As already mentioned, a roller could be employed instead of a pressing or weighting tool for any or all of the layers. For the lower layers this roller could be of the ordinary garden roller type, but for the uppermost layer it may be found convenient to employ a roller in the form say of a metal tube, which is sufiiciently long to reach across the full width of the section being rolled and would thus extend over the partitions of each side of such section. In this way the formation of an even surface will be facilitated. Where a long roller is employed as just described, it will be necessary of course, in order that it may operate effectively, that the charge upon which it is to operate should stand above the level of the partitions. The amount which it projects above the partitions must he graduated ac cording to the nature of the material in question, and other circumstances, and it should preferably be so chosen that when the roller has worked down so that its ends rest upon the upper surfaces of the parti tions, sufiicient rolling of the charge has been accomplished. l'Vith some materials, such as a layer made of the rounded grains referred to in the aforesaid earlier patent specification, mixed, of course, with cement, the amount need not be more than one-sixteenth to one eighth of an inch, this figure having been obtained from similar experiments to ti'iose from which the other examples given hereinbefore were obtained. In order to prepare the charge for the long roller, a screening board may be employed where of the middle portion between the parts which rest upon the partitions is at a higher level than the upper surfaces of the partitions.

In some instances it may be found that the space between the marking lines is so narrow as not to necessitate a partition of the full depth being employed since contraction of the material may safely be allowed to take place in a wider area. For instance the width 30 (Figure 1) may safely be included with the width 31 in so far as allowance for contraction is concerned. In these circumstances, as illustrated in Figure 6, the lower layers may extend obliquely across the width 30, 31 and only when the uppermostlayer is to be laid need. a partition such as 32 be put in place, this being necessary in order to form the marking line. Owing to the partition 32 being comparatively shallow in depth it is not essential that it should be collapsible.

While the present invention is particularly applicable to the preparation of tennis courts, it is not limited to this particular use. Only half the court may be built at a time whereafter the same set of partitions may be utilized for building the other half. The partitions are preferably made of an overall width corresponding to the width of the marking lines of the court.

It to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise details hereinbefore set forth.

1. Apparatus for use in the building of tennis courts and the like comprising a collapsible partition and strickle-guide comprising two strips each of angle formation secured together to form a channel whereof the base is constituted by one side of one strip rest ing upon a side of the other strip.

2. pparatus for use in the building of tennis courts and the like comprising a collapsible partition and strickle-guide comprising a plurality of strips each of angle 1 formation securedtogether in pairs to form ohanneis whereof the base is constituted by one side'of one strip of one pair resting upon aside of the other strip of the same pair, which'pairs of strips are secured together end to end with the joint at the one side of-thepartition displaced out of coincidence with the corresponding joint 1) tween the strips at the other side of the partition.

In testimony whereof-I have name to this specification.

signed my HENRY GARDINER LLOYD. 

